The Glass Castle

518 Words3 Pages
The Class Castle Jeannette Walls’ novel, The Glass Castle is an excellent memoir about her life and growing up in a dysfunctional family, and being forced to provide for herself and three siblings. Walls created a raw image of a life growing up in poverty. The Glass Castle revolves around a family and the struggle they face because of the poverty they live in and the cruelty shown to them by those around them, more specifically the relationship between Jeannette and her parents. At the age of three Jeannette was hospitalized with a very serious burn, which required skin graphs from her thighs which scarred her for life. While growing up the Walls family moved from place to place. Camping in the dessert, living in bad neighbourhoods was the least of their worries. Rex Walls was and alcoholic and could never keep a steady job while his wife had a teaching degree but focused on being an artist. With two parents, four children and an unreliable income, each child was required to find their own food. When Rex got paid and groceries were bought, the food lasted only a few days. For the rest of the month Jeannette, Brain, Lori and Maureen had to find alternate ways of getting food. Dumpsters and trashcans were usually the best option. Later in life Jeannette realizes there is more to life than struggling to make ends meet and aspires to move to New York. The timeless theme explored in The Glass Castle is forgiveness. Jeannette spends her whole life forgiving her parents over and over for the choices they made that adversely impacted DeBortoli 2 and ratty clothes plus stealing their money and sometimes their souls, Rex and Rose Mary didn’t deserve forgiveness. However, Jeannette and her brother and sisters always find a way to welcome their parents back into their hearts. The Glass Castle is narrated in the first person by Jeannette Walls as she relates her

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